Yorkshire challenge for Mumbai today in CLT20

Defending champions Mumbai Indians and Yorkshire will look to recover from losses in their respective openers when they clash in the Group B tie of the Champions League Twenty20 at Newlands here today.

With a defeat each under their belts, today’s tie is a must-win game for both sides to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

MI’s Sachin Tendulkar during a training session in Cape Town yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Mumbai suffered an eight-wicket loss against Highveld Lions on Sunday. However with an experienced batting line-up they start as favourites against the English side.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) outfit will bank on star batsman Sachin Tendulkar to give them a good start.

Supporting Tendulkar will be either big-hitter Dwayne Smith of West Indies or New Zealander Richard Levi.

In the bowling department, Mumbai will once again rely on their Sri Lankan quickie Lasith Malinga besides Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson. Spinners Pragyan Ojha and skipper Harbhajan Singh were a tad expensive against the Lions in their previous encounter and will look to improve this time round.

On the other hand, Yorkshire, who looked impressive in the qualifiers having won both matches therein, could manage to score just 96 for nine off 20 overs in their opening encounter against Sydney Sixers on Tuesday. Sydney chased down the target with 67 balls to spare.